The injuries which some women sustain during their prolonged obstructed labour are so severe that they cannot be completely cured. Around 7% of cases require some ongoing medical care.

Examples of these long term injuries are:

• Damaged bladders
• Severe rectal fistulas
• Nerve damage

Medical conditions such as these require some women to be fitted with an external colostomy bag for faeces and a urinary diversion to drain urine into the bag.

Returning to their previous village life is therefore very difficult. Despite their need for medical supervision these women want to lead as normal lives as possible. The Hospital has developed a number of training programs to assist them in acquiring new skills, leading to gainful employment. In this way the Hospital seeks to help even the most severely injured women to "become citizens of the world again" and where possible living independently as close as possible to their own community.

To help with this the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital created the Desta Mender ‘self help’ village. Click here for more info on Desta Mender.